The Christian Organisation Trying to "Save" the Austrian Youth With Stories About Dead Celebrities

This article originally appeared on ​VICE Alps.
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​Non-profit organisation Soulsaver are basically Austria's cool version of Jehova's Witnesses. You'll usually find its members at various Austrian music festivals, walking around the camp site, distributing booklets that shall preserve the drunk crowd from the final downfall. I've always really loved the books, especially because my friends and I would read them out loud to each other while drunk in our tents.

One of my personal favourites, is called Rock im Sarg [Rock in the Coffin] and it tells the life stories of rockstars who died young due to their excessive lifestyle –like Elvis and Sid Vicious. "Many of them were gifted – they were young, beautiful, rich and famous, but also addicted..." begins the book. Another classic – which you can download on their website – is Smoke Weed, Snort Coke, Drink, Rock and Die and also deals with dead celebrities. One chapter of that book is titled 'Heath Ledger—from Golden Boy to Murderous Psychopath'. When was Heath Ledger a murderous psychopath, other than the time he played "the Joker"?
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​Screenshot via soulsaver.at

Soulsaver bills itself as a platform that promotes the Christian faith, bringing young people closer to the only true Soul saver – Jesus Christ. It also does not only deal with social issues like addiction, but also with current issues: Apparently, Robin Williams battled with depression and killed himself because ​"he was only half of a believer", while Apple CEO Tim Cook is probably confused and ​"under the influence of the homosexual agenda". 

In its entirety, Soulsaver features the same topics as VICE – drugs, sexuality, politics – only every story comes with a "Christian" moral: Drugs are bad, gays are abnormal and technology is evil.

At first glance it seems as if the concept of Soulsaver fulfils its purpose and as its members are good, smart people who actually found a way of making religious content for generation Y. After all, no one really wants to OD at 27.

But if you look a little closer, the absurd stories on Soulsaver are full of hate,  ignorance and a refusal to get with the times.  My dear Soulsavers, we are in the fucking 21st century – not even Jesus can change that.

​@verenabgnr